I'll admit it now with complete honesty, I couldn't finish "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child." I just couldn't.
I'm a Ravenclaw, so you can imagine the shock in not finishing a book, but give me a chance and I'll try to explain what could have possibly gone so wrong.
There are two main problems I had with the story. Number one, Harry can't figure out how to father Albus Severus. The man we last saw reassuring his son about the possibility of being sorted into Slytherin, can't seem to love Albus once he actually becomes a Slytherin. Their relationship turns awkward, then distant, and finally resentful. In a fit of rage Harry even admits to wishing Albus wasn't his son at all!
If you've read the books, you know how deeply Harry clung to the idea of family, of Lily and James and the bond with his parents that he desperately wanted to have. He had his mother's eyes and his father's love of Quidditch and mischief. Nothing made him more proud than to be compared to either parent, but when he was young, all he ever wanted was to be just like his dad.
When he couldn't have a bond with James, Harry found fathers in Mr. Weasley, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Dumbledore. People change with time and with children, but Harry's desperate wish for a real father and son bond was such a strong part of who he is that you'd be hard pressed to convince me he could change so fundamentally and still be Harry Potter. The man who walked to his death with his parents at his side wouldn't be the same man to allow his son to feel unloved. The way that Harry allowed the relationship to die seemed so out of character, it was hard for me to stay focused on the story.
On to my second problem with the plot.
Albus and company decide to steal a time turner and go back in time to save Cedric Diggory. They go back, they save him, they return to the present. Problem solved, right? Nope, not at all. In fact they've just made matters a whole lot worse for everyone, but how could you have known this would happen?!
I'll tell you how you could have known. You could have looked at just about any story involving time travel ever told by anyone. Ever.
The butterfly effect as introduced in "The Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury has been used a thousand times over in literature and other media to explore what could go horribly wrong in the future if someone changes the past. The formula goes like this, if you change the past, you will change everything that happens after, and if you don't like the changed future (and you won't) you'll just have to go back to the past and un-change what you've changed, but chances are you'll make it worse before you make it better so you really shouldn't have messed with the balance in the first place. This plot line is everywhere, but clearly we haven't seen enough of it yet to learn our lesson. Say it with me everyone: "I, (state your name), promise to never travel through time with intentions of changing the past." There, now hopefully everyone will stop with the whole thing.
This overdone plot took away from the story. Most readers are able to look at that set up and instantly know exactly what will happen from there on out. This was what made me set the book aside. Harry Potter stories are meant to be exciting to read, the books keep you guessing and every time you re-read them you find more pieces that you missed before. "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" didn't have that feeling, and it was a flaw I can't forgive.
In short, I'm all for "Harry Potter" plays and sequels and movies and books, but not this one. The plot wasn't worthy of all the pomp and circumstance it generated. The story was predictable and the beloved characters seemed like forced versions of the real thing. "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" lacked the beauty and magic of the world I fell in love with.
